I was just wondering how many others here have found that their hair issues have led to serious depression. I mean to the extent that you have difficulty making yourself go outside for fear of ridicule. Or you don’t do things that you really want to do because you’re worried that your problem will be exposed. If it isn’t already obvious, that’s been my experience. What–if anything–has helped you? I’ve been in treatment for depression and have tried various hair removal methods for years and sometimes it just feels so hopeless.
I cant say that my hairs pushed me into depression, but the issue certainly helped. I was diagnosed with severe depression 10 years ago, tried every pill, and experienced such an extreme side effects, that i decided just to quit and ride the tide. It certainly can cramp your style.there are times when i dont even feel human, and i am looking at all the girls around me, and hey!, guess what? None of them have hairs on their faces.I know that most people will say that all women have facial hair to some extent. I can tell you all, its just not true. Both of my grandmothers had zero hairs on their faces, arms or legs. 99 % of my girlfriends thru highschool had no hair, and i know for a fact they never waxed or tweezed, and they certainly didnt have electrolysis, because back in Croatia, at the time we didnt even have electrologists. My best friend at work has no hairs at all, maybe some on her legs, but her face is like porcelain. I am 33. I have never had a job, till i started electrolysis. My first few treatments gave me confidence to go on a interview. There were moments when id looked at myself in a mirror, and wanted to die and be done with it all. There were moments when i seriously hated my mother for giving it to me (for me its hereditary). When i was pregnant and i found out that i am having a girl, i felt really depressed, because i knew shes gonna have same problem, and she truly does. Were already saving our money for her future treatments. That is what hurts like heck. My worst pain. But in all this misery there is something that i discovered, and you may choose to listen or you may not. I can tell you one thing: People dont care! Most of the time when you think they are watching you and your face and hair, they really dont. Maybe i was lucky, but i was never bullied. I had good looking boyfriends too, and my husband is very handsome. He says he cant even see my hairs. Its love, i guess. Its not hopeless. There are solutions. There is electrolysis, there is laser, and most certainly there is someone outhere waiting to love you for who you are, no matter what.
Thanks for sharing, sanny. I’m glad to hear you seem to be making your way through it. I enjoy hearing others’ success stories, but it’s not something I really see for myself. I just got home from a 2hr session and while there’s certainly an improvement from before, it feels sort of like trimming a square foot of grass in 10 acres of jungle.
It has made me in a depressed state (i’ve never been diagnosed), but excess hairs definitely make me feel badly about myself. Even though I know they shouldn’t because they’re natural. Sometimes I’ll skip going to even classes because I don’t want to run into people I know and they’ll see…
I’ve always been really happy with my appearance, with the exception of the excess hair. I feel like that may be why God decided to burden me with it, because otherwise I feel like I would have no problems with the way I look. 
Sometimes I’ll skip going to even classes because I don’t want to run into people I know and they’ll see…
I know what’s that like. I also relate to the feeling of it being a punishment of some sort even though I know how illogical that is. Don’t give up, though! I remember having trouble finding transportation to appointments when I was at college and being embarrassed at the state of my skin afterwards to the point where I just gave up on it entirely, but now I wish I had been more disciplined and gone for it. Good luck and please feel free to PM me if you want to talk.
sanny,
Your post was so beautiful. The part about there being someone out there is totally true. I’ve talked to so many women in the same situation and many of them are married or have a serious boyfriend and they always say that their significant other doesn’t even care. This day in age with the media how it is, and our focus on beauty makes it hard to believe no one minds a woman having facial hair, however, most people just don’t care. And if they do–you know, the ones who make comments–it’s because they don’t like themselves.
The only part of your post that isn’t accurate is the part where you talk about most women not having hair. That’s simply not true. EVERYONE has hair on every part of their bodies aside from a couple of places–it may be vellus and you may not even be able to see it, but it’s there!
I have to second that motion. The statistics quoted in electrolysis schools and seminars is that 9 out of 10 people (male and female) have some hair, someplace that they want to get rid of, if they only knew that it was possible, and they could afford to get it done well, safely and conveniently.
I am in a similar state to Lila, although I do have problems with other parts of my body. I feel God has given me this to humble me, because sad as it is, before I was aware of my facial hair, I had quite a sharp tongue. Also, I am much closer to God as I realize that there is always someone who loves me no matter what. I don’t mean to preach, but in all honesty, just praying about it and knowing there is a greater purpose has reallly helped me through my depression over facial hair. I used to lose sleep over this, and have anxiety attacks, but I am alright now, with God behind me all the way!
I can empathize somuch with what is being said. When sanny mentioned about heridity and her mother and daughter it makes me feel so guilty about how I look at my mother (well- I always already feel the guilt but it reminds me of it). My mother is beautiful with a great smile that I got from her and every time I look at her I cringe inside and feel even more hopeless concerning my own facial hair issues. She is more of a hippy type and she knows my own facial hair has made me depressed but she seems fine with hers so she lets it go and doesn’t even really tweeze that much.
It brings up so many bad and self-hating feelings for me to look at my own mother’s face, the light of my life, and that kills me. Then I remember my great-grandmother’s abundant facial hair and how she wore a wig and pair that with the fact that my aunt on my mom’s side has majorly thinning hair and I notice my hairline receding a bit and it all just seems like too much to handle. It seems even more unfair that some women losing their hair can be the same women that have too much of it on their face and other parts of their body. Now that ridiculous bikini line I’ve hated since my early twenties seems like a minor annoyance in comparison. ugh. We can have hope in electrolysis and laser, though. I cant wait til some of this is just a thing of the past.
Hi-
I am new to the forums- but have been reading for quite some time. I am a 29 year old female who has had facial hair issues since puberty. I remember my mother looking at me and crying over my face- before i even knew what was wrong. For my family the pcos is hereditary - and though we are all struggling with different symptoms I was lucky enough to just have the facial hair.
For a long time I tweezed and tried my best to live a normal life- but as I grew older the problem got worse- to the point I didn’t want to go outside until night time (only eating in dark restaurants- being protective of my ‘personal space’- keeping everyone at arms length…) But I liked having the testosterone- I liked seeing the world through a ‘man’s eyes’. I liked the strong libido- the competitive attitude. I wasn’t able to easily build normal relationships with people but I was able to get a really good job and do well at it- and when I was able to make connections with people they tended to be strong.
Finally the growth became so abundant it had to be dealt with. I am trying laser and have seen results… i hope they continue 
Am 20 yrs old…I had no idea other people felt the same. Mines hereditory and ive had this since birth. When i was 4 i hated myself. Remember crying loads and the kids at school as i got older treated me differetly. Needless to say i got depressed. Humbled me with god also i felt. Im confident but i have no self esteem. Its a wierd combination- i know why. ive had lots of electrolysis to point where im scared stiff of needles. So doing laser now for 4 years!!! And little sucess- thats just face. Wax everywhere else. Never had a bf and have troubble keeping friends due to depression i think. I just despise myself. Anyways hope maybe il find someone some day. Have lots of treatments but my life revolves around this.
Should be seen as illess realy. Had hormone tests etc- mine normal. My laser woman was shocked. My hairs are tough and pure black and thick- people always say to me how lucky i am my hair is so thick and jet black. Also my face fairly light for asian. Thats when i think- thankgod that must mean they cant see a hair on my face at the moment. not lucky at all- every hair can be seen and am mentally scarred from this x
I am sad to say there are men (and transgenders) who also suffer from the same self image issues too. Regardless of gender presentation or how much unwanted hair I had at the time, I have always felt I looked like monster. I was tortured by kids growing up because of the way I looked, and I have struggled with depression my whole life. Sometimes I wonder if I had body dysmorphic disorder, because people today tell me I don’t look like a monster but I just can’t believe that
mirror, what areas do you have problem hair on? how much hair and how coarse? do you experience any other symptoms of PCOS? hormonal problems are difficult to detect, so many doctors misdiagnose. if you are having serious issues with hair, you may want to consider seeking out a specialist (endocrinologist) with a great reputation in PCOS in your area to get retested.
The hairs pretty much everywhere. Not coarse everywhere, but is thick and long. Hate talking about it- lol! I used to have irregular periods but theyre ok now- think it was maybe more stress related. My aunt had pcos but the doc checked her recently and said its gone! Aparrently that can happen. Im not over weight so I cant figure it out. But it is serrious and worrying. The lady who does my laser now does it for 30 pounds for face- think she just feels sorry for me as its not working but her equiptments pretty much what every ones got and she updates them also.
Hi
I’m also new to the forums and find them very informative and uplifting:) I’ve also been struggling with excess body hair for a long time and I feel like it’s a worse problem because I’m a female and we are supposed to be beautiful with silky soft skin(according to the media, which is sooooo discouraging!) I’ve gottn blood tests taken but to no avail, I don’t even think my doctor took me seriously! He started telling me that I was just acting this way because of how many women look to the images we see in society and try to emulate them. I wanted to tell him he should try being me for a month and see if his opinion changed, ofcourse I didn’t say that. I’m hoping that sometime in the future i’ll be able to afford electrology or permanent laser hair removal.
Any way you all are so great and honest and you give the best advice. I hope that you all find a solution that works for you an dwhen you do tell Me!
mirror, it sounds like you may have PCOS or at least a hormonal imbalance problem, especially since it’s in your family. you don’t need to have all the symptoms to have it. many people have none of the symptoms and still have it. i would really advise you to see an experienced endocrinologist. also, what machine and type of electrolysis are you getting? there are electrologists who do great work. 30 pounds is still a lot of money for something that’s not working. you can pluck for free yourself. but making sure you don’t have anything in your body causing the growth is important as well because hair removal methods like electrolysis can only kill what’s currently there. they cannot prevent NEW growth that your body may be developing due to a condition.
Ritz, you may want to look for an experienced endocrinologist if you truly think you may have an underlying medical condition causing the hair growth. you haven’t mentioned specific problem areas or what type of hair you have there, so it’s hard to judge over the internet. I can tell you though that hormonal conditions are hard to detect, so you really need someone experienced who specializes in this issue to take a look.
Thanks ,lagirl for the advice. I think i will try to get a referal to an endocrinologist from my doctor…when I got the blood tests done I was mensing so that might have changed the results. I have very coarse hair on my arms and legs,but espicially on my legs,and I have hair that reaches down to my jawline(aka elvis side burns )and also in a few more areas that I’d rather not touch on…(too embarrassed)
But I don’t really know if it’s a medical condition or if it’s just heridtary…
I agree that having excess hair makes you feel depressed. I’m not depressed every day but I am always conscious of my hair and it has sometimes stopped me from leaving the house, phoning in sick to work because i’m doubly paranoid about myself or have horrid shaving rash. It has stopped me from doing other things like getting married, having a family, all becuase I want to enjoy these experiences without excess hair hanging over me. Until my hair is treated, my life is on hold.
On the upside, I feel that due to having this problem, it has made me more understanding and empathetic. I would never judge someone on their appearance and consider more people to be beautiful than I may have if I never had this.